Young Goethe in Love
1 hour 40 minutes
Not Rated (but would get an R because there's a harmless sex scene with nudity)
Directed by Philip Stolz
Starring Alexander Fehling, Miriam Stein, Moritz Bleibtreu, Volker Bruch, Burghart Klaussner, and Henry Hubchen
3 out of 4 stars
THIS IS A 2011 MOVIE. ON DVD NOW.
I need to start reading more poetry. I've only read three types of poems: Shakepeare's, Whitman's, and my own (and the last poem I wrote was in high school and was about an alien abduction. I didn't get a good grade). I tend to avoid poetry because I never know what they're about. I do admit, though, that whenever I read a poem I'm mesmerized by how beautiful they sound when spoken aloud, even if I have no idea what the heck is going on. I usually just assume that every poem is about love. Now I have a new poet whose works I'd like to read: Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. I'd never heard of him, and I hate sounding like a Debbie Downer but whenever I hear the word Goethe I think of the evil Nazi Amon Goeth from Schindler's List. This Goethe was a famous German poet, writer, artist, and politician who's most famous for his first novel, The Sorrows of Young Werther, which he wrote when he was only 25. Young Goethe in Love, a beautifully photographed romance/drama that came out last year, is about what inspired him to write the novel.
I was supposed to see the movie at the last Philly Film Festival but the manager in charge didn't let me because I was volunteering. It's a predictable movie for sure, but oh what a gorgeous predictable one it is. Goethe (Alexander Fehling, who I recognized from his small role in Inglourious Basterds) is a vivacious spirit aspiring to be a writer but fails his degree. His strict father (Henry Hubchen) says he won't succeed as a writer and should be a lawyer instead. He meets a stuttering young man named Wilhelm (Volker Bruch) at his job and the two strive to fall in love with women. At a party Goethe meets a pretty woman named Lotte (Miriam Stein) who's struggling financially to support her large family. The two fall madly in love but Lotte's father (Burghart Klaussner) has arranged for her to meet and hopefully marry a rich, totally UNdashing guy named Albert (Moritz Bleibtreu), who just happens to be Goethe's boss. GASP! What's gonna happen?!
Actually, don't expect a happy ending. Well, it is happy, but it's tragic at the same time. The dialogue isn't that original here. For example:
DOTTE: "Is this the moment?"
GOETHE: "What moment?"
DOTTE: "The one where you kiss me."
Oh please! Luckily Fehling and Stein are lovable enough so that should distract you from all the cheesiness. The vast landscapes of the German countryside, as well as the recreation of 18th century Germany, are lovely to look at. I think people tend to think that the French are the masters of love stories. Young Goethe in Love shows that the French have some competition. It's also always satisfying to watch a period movie set in a non-English country have REAL foreign actors speaking in the REAL foreign language of the place. This is set in Germany, so the characters are speaking in German and not that overdone British accent. I read that Goethe really did fall in love with a woman named Charlotte (Lotte for short) Buff and wrote The Sorrows of Young Werther based off of her. To have the backstory be the focus of a movie isn't that original because it's been done already. Here, though, it really is necessary. We now know what made Goethe such a beautiful writer.